Emanuel AME gives $1.5M to families of 9 killed; keeps $1.8M

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Charleston church where nine African-Americans were shot in what police say were racist killings has given $1.5 million of donations to family members of the victims.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports (http://bit.ly/1TvWFRU ) that Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church kept about $1.8 million of donations for building maintenance, an endowment and a scholarship fund.

The money was donated to the church in the months after the shootings last June. Church leaders say only $280,000 worth of donations were specified for the victims' families, and the church decided to add more than $1 million to those gifts.

Some family members are upset the church kept more than it gave to them.